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Recent Advances in Research on Iranian and Central Asian Metalware. A Few Examples - The 'Soltikov' Plate from Tukharistan

Frantz Grenet (Collège de France)

The vessel with the most elaborate Zoroastrian imagery known so far is the "Soltikov" plate kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Developing partial interpretations once proposed by Harper and Marshak, it can be analyzed as an allegorical depiction of the seven main Zoroastrian festivals, their association with the seasons corresponding to the state of the Zoroastrian calendar in the second half of the 7th century. It bears witness to the existence of Zoroastrian courts in Tukharistan (ancient Bactria) during the period of the Arab conquest.